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Cape Town - The Mother City has been selected by the French Minister of the Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs as the new French Tech Hub.

As a result, Cape Town has joined a group of five other cities already designated French Tech Hubs by France - namely Moscow, New York, San Francisco, Tel-Aviv and Tokyo.

In order to foster the growth of start-up companies and to promote innovation, this project has been supported by a pool of leading French companies like Methys, Orange, Dassault System, Gemalto, Schneider Electric and Efront. They will be able to advise new entrants.

A new web portal has been created to provide information about the local economic partners, the useful contacts and the measures to support start-up companies. Moreover, this French Tech Hub in Cape Town will help South African companies to benefit from all the opportunities of the "French Tech", in terms of new technologies, investments and also recruitment of new talent.

This initiative takes place in the context of the dynamic growth of French start-up companies, especially in innovation and emerging technologies. According to the Deloitte Fast 500 EMEA annual ranking, France has the largest number of hyper-growth firms in the Europe, Middle-East and Africa area, for the sixth successive year.

The French government sustains this growth by structuring the network of start-up companies abroad.

Elisabeth Barbier, ambassador of France in South Africa, said she was delighted that Cape Town has been designated as a French Tech Hub.

"This success rewards all the efforts made by a dynamic community of French entrepreneurs, rooted in Cape Town, taking advantage of a leading innovation ecosystem in Africa. This success will also encourage business and human talent exchanges between France and South Africa, in innovation and especially in the digital industry," said Barbier.